There is generous gibberish being bandied about, emanating from Nigerian Wendell Simlin, I mean Reno Omokri, former Special Assistant to ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan on New Media. In his perfunctory or fanatical defense of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and popularly supported by many commentators, mostly subjectively, he came out as a child struggling to clutch at the last straw of courage that he could, in order to die, if he must, a martyr in the face of this modern antagonism against his faith. Come on, wake up. Are you expecting some perverse fun in heaven?
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I woke up to headlines that had variations of “Adeboye was forced to resign because he praised Fayose over his anti-Fulani policy – Reno Omokri”. If we are not to deride the peddlers of such titles, understanding the need to make ends-meet and keep body and soul and family’s together, maybe an objective glimpse, at least, will afford some understanding of where we are and where we are headed as a nation of youths, who should be tired of being led as lambs to the slaughter by exhausted leaders that merely enjoy the spotlight of political and religious governance because the governed, like couch potatoes, are too busy consuming on Instagram nudity, religious buffoonery and mollifying comic videos.
The reaction of Reno Omokri, representing thousands alike, seems to be a potpourri of courage rather than of brains at defending ‘what-just-need-be-defended’. He alluded to the fact that the Vice President of Nigeria is afraid and keeps mute, while “he is not afraid to declare his support for Pastor Adeboye”. Sometimes, wisdom requires silence because even the one you choose to defend may marvel at your folly.
The purpose of this intervention is to point out that though the likes of Reno Omokri may be young, at least physically, compared with the contemporaries with whom he bled the nation and kept mute while it all went down, they are known by antecedent to be associated with falsehoods (not to forget that he was accused of impersonation and identity theft by an American woman, Wendell Simlin) and conspiracies to defraud an entire nation, painting blue green.
RO has linked the ‘forced retirement’ of GO, or its subsequent Jammeh-styled about-turn implemented by the RCCG establishment, to the GO’s act of showering accolades on Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti for “defending his people from foreign Fulani herdsmen.” That association is easy to believe even though the GO did not make such direct statements. The following were his words, “We thank God for your life sir. We thank God for your courage, for your boldness, we thank God for your being willing to take risks so that your people can be protected. You have been a governor who knows when to say enough is enough in defense of his people. And I’m sure you know what I’m talking about and I am sure the world knows. I don’t want to say more than that, but be assured that we are praying for you and you will succeed in Jesus Name.” It can, however, only be supposed that he was referring to the law enacted to prohibit open grazing in the state.
It is saddening that naivety is voraciously preyed upon by suave, but crooked politicians. For how will a former Special Assistant to a President, who participated in running aground a nation, killing and almost killing electorates and supposed beneficiaries of democratic governance be bold enough to issue statements purporting to signpost the dying lot towards right footing?
How could such a man declare himself the mouthpiece of a religious leader, who is largely insulated from the polluted creeks of the Niger Delta, from where money flows in torrents though many corrupted pockets to be heaped as tithes without scrutiny and transparency to procure a Jet, while the people of the creeks either die of ill-health, poverty or while defending their rights?
When and where does naivety become righteousness? Even if the GO has praised Fayose for his stance against the continued incursion of the Fulani herdsmen, at protecting the lives of his Ekiti people in that light, which he did not make explicit, while ignoring, maybe for the moment, the other atrocities of or allegations against Fayose, does it mean even religious leaders consider themselves, in conspiracy with their lambs, infallible?
Sandwiched somewhere in-between, the words, “And I’m sure you know what I’m talking about and I am sure the world knows” make the meaning of the visit of the GO the more ambiguous with the ‘you’ and ‘the world’, which the GO seems sure know what he was talking abou, being mischievous twisting his words expectedly to favour their intentions, in this case, political. Was GO, by default, not aware of such a possibility?
Well, here we are. The GO did not berate Fayose for whatever he could have done wrong in the past, at least not reported or bandied about; maybe because as far as the GO was concerned, Fayose had previousy done no wrong and only deserving of praise. Therefore, several of the other governors in the country and would-be governors and the teeming youth hoping one day to be governors or else, who are die-hard fans of the GO, like the exhausted Omokri, have reasons to emulate the ‘quintessential’ governor Fayose. One can only imagine what, through the acts of commission and omission of religious leaders, what our country has and can turn into.
Notwithstanding the above, beyond sentiments, I find no justifiable association between a GO being forced to resign (not like he was the only one affected) and his praises for Fayose over his anti-fulani stance. How does a former public servant think a country is ruled, with sentiments?
On a lighter note, RO tweeted about a day ago, “If the first responsibility of a Gov is securing life and property, I challenge any Nigerian to name a Gov who does this BETTER than Fayose.” Before Reno writes a wrong history for Nigeria, he needs to be corrected that he meant WORSE not BETTER.
Finally, he states like an ombudsman of Christians and the minority, “I stand with Pastor Adeboye. Now, more than ever, Nigerian Christians and minorities need unity and leaders like Adeboye and Fayose!” While I am in a state of shock, I will say to you Reno, “‘don’ get it twisted!”.
@lakunlescrews
